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England:
Under the Coronavirus Act 2020
(Residential Tenancies: Protection
from Eviction) (Amendment)
(England) Regulations 2020 the notice
rules for England have been changed.
From 29 August section 21 notices
have to be at least six months long.
These regulations also extend the
period over which these longer
notices are required until 31 March
2021.

Before Coronavirus section 8 notices
had different lengths of notice for
different reasons. Under the initial
changes made by Schedule 29 of the
Coronavirus Act 2020 these were
originally standardised and
lengthened so that all section 8 notices
had to be three months. These new
regulations re-establish different
notice lengths for different grounds.
Most grounds, including rent arrears
totalling less than six months of rent
arrears, are extended to six months’
notice.

Serious rent arrears, in excess of six
months’ arrears, are reduced to four
weeks’ notice (normally this would
have been only two weeks’ notice).

Grounds 7A and 14, relating to anti-
social behaviour, revert to their pre- COVID rules. This makes using these
grounds potentially very attractive.

Wales:
On the 21 July the Coronavirus Act
2020 (Assured Tenancies and Assured
Shorthold Tenancies, Extension of
Notice Periods) (Amendment)
(Wales) Regulations 2020 were made
and came into force on 24 July 2020.

This meant any notice for possession
that was served on a tenant on or after
24 July must be six months long,
unless serving a section 8 notice on
ground 7A – (conviction for a serious
offence) and ground 14 (anti-social
behaviour) or 14A, domestic
violence). These rules will now be in
force until 31 March, subject to a
review in December, and could be
extended beyond that depending on
the infection rates.

England and Wales:
The Civil Procedure (Amendment
No.2) (Coronavirus) Rules 2020, were
brought into force on 25 June 2020.
The 26 June is when the Government
were hoping to open the courts for
possession hearings. Though many
restrictions began to ease, the courts
remained closed until 21 September
2020.
To coincide with the courts opening
on the 21 September further rules
were made through The Civil
Procedure (Amendment No.4)
(Coronavirus) Rules 2020 and
Practice Direction 55c Coronavirus:
Temporary Provision in relation to
possession proceedings.
There are two different claims a
“stayed claim” and a “new claim” A
stayed claim is a claim that was made
on or before 19 September including
an appeal from a decision on a claim.
Any claim stayed on or before the 3
August needs a ‘reactivation notice’
and nothing will happen with that claim until the notice is served.
Claims after 3 August and claims
where a judgement has been awarded
do not require reactivation. A
‘reactivation notice’ must be served
by 4pm on the 29 January 2021.
A new claim is any possession claim
that has been made to the courts after
the 19 September.
If a claim includes non-payment of rent, and whether or not a re-
activation notice is required, the court and the tenant must also be supplied
with rent payment information for the
duration of the tenancy, up to a
maximum of two years. All claims
now also need any information about
how the coronavirus has affected the
tenant, regardless of the grounds or
notice used.
This amendment also suspends the
standard period between issue of a
claim form and a hearing. Normally
claims should be heard within eight
weeks of the claim being issued. The
eight week period has simply been
removed giving judges wide case
management powers. These rules will
stay in place until at least 28 March
2021.
It is estimated courts will only be able
to handle 25% of the cases they
handled pre coronavirus so long
delays for possession are expected.
The guidance is clear that landlords
should avoid seeking possession if at
all possible. Where possession is
sought, there will be a review hearing
before the substantive hearing.